“Bridge Over Troubled Water”: Solidarity and Civic Responsibility in Times of Crisis

The Ghetto Fighters’ House invites you to our series:

“Bridge Over Troubled Water”: Solidarity and Civic Responsibility in Times of Crisis

Join us for the fourth program:

Rescue Outside the Ghetto Walls: Warsaw 1943-44

The Berman Collection

Guest Speakers:

Prof. Emanuel Berman

Basia and Adolf Abraham Berman: Documenting the Rescue of Jews in Occupied Warsaw

Noam Rachmilevitch

Solidarity under Occupation: Organized Rescue of Jews in Warsaw 1943-1944

After the establishment of the Warsaw ghetto by the Nazis, numerous Jews settled on the “Aryan” side of the city, under assumed non-Jewish identities. Many managed to survive this way after the destruction of the ghetto, though living under constant threat of being identified and killed.

Our first speaker, Prof. Emanuel Berman, will share the heroic story of his parents, Basia and Adolf Abraham Berman, who also hid under false identities, and were very active in a clandestine network helping fellow Jews to survive. They provided forged identity papers, rent money, food, medical supplies and more, all while risking their own lives. This period is vividly described by Basia Temkin-Berman in a diary written during the occupation.

Noam Rachmilevitch, a senior researcher in the Ghetto Fighters’ House archive, will give a presentation centering on the Adolf Berman collection held in the museum’s archives. This unique collection offers insight into the practical implementation of the above-mentioned rescue efforts. Noam will focus on two key aspects of rescue: financial support and documentation supply.

This program is in partnership with the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, Classrooms Without Borders, and the Rabin Chair Forum at George Washington University.